Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-11

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Your friend has been offered a place on a course at the university where you studied. He/She would like your advice about finding a place to live.

Write an email to your friend. In your email

• describe where you lived when you were a student at the university
• recommend the best way for him/her to look for accommodation
• warn him/her of mistakes students make when choosing accommodation

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your email as follows:

Dear ..........,

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Dear Sam,

Hope you are doing well. I am very happy to hear that you have been offer an admission from the top ranked university from where I got my masters too.

I came know that you have been looking for an accommodation to stay. I would like to suggest you a few place where you can kind a better and comfortable housing.

Back then, I shared a rental house with fellow classmates. Also, the home was walkable commute to university. Therefore, it was very east to attend the classes on time and on all weather conditions too.

My best recommendation to you is that, choose the best and correct place to stay which should be close the institution. Additionally, go with a private room if you are looking for privacy.

Secondly, be cautions that accommodation which you are willing to rent have all the accessories like air conditioning, heater and laundry. Try to avoid with apartments and institutional housing as they be a bit expensive and would have rules and regulations.

My warm and best regards to you, on your achievement and starting the new chapter.

yours faithfully,

Ricky.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task: describing your past living situation, recommending how to search for housing, and providing a warning about common mistakes. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the advice regarding 'accessories' and the warning about 'institutional housing' could be more clearly explained to help your friend understand the context better. Overall, the response covers the requirements well, but adding more specific detail or personal anecdotes would elevate the quality of the content.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email is logically organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your points easily. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'Secondly', and 'Therefore' to link your ideas. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the slightly awkward phrasing in the second paragraph ('I came know that you have been looking for an accommodation'). Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would improve the overall cohesion of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'walkable commute', 'institutional housing', and 'regulations'. There are some instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'kind a better' (instead of 'find') and 'accessories' (where 'amenities' would be more appropriate for housing). Additionally, there are minor errors in collocation, such as 'offer an admission' (should be 'offered admission'). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more precise vocabulary usage to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'I came know' (missing 'to'), 'offer an admission' (incorrect passive voice), 'east to attend' (should be 'easy'), and 'close the institution' (missing 'to'). Furthermore, there are issues with article usage and prepositional phrases. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors suggests that you need to focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and verb tense consistency.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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